How to Create Passive Income Streams: 21+ Best Online Ideas for 2019

In order to achieve financial freedom, you need to master the art of generating passive income. The average millionaire does not just generate income from one source – they generate multiple streams of income.

If you truly want to achieve financial freedom, or get rich, you need to look at other sources of potential income. But the key word here is ‘passive’. You must look for ways to generate income while you sleep or away on vacation. If you work 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, you will burn out easily.

Do you understand how it feels like to work 9-to-5 and not have enough money in the bank? You’re not alone. This guide is going to help you carve the path towards financial freedom. You’ll have a repository of ideas on how you can generate residual income so you can live and enjoy life more!

An Introduction to Passive Income

When you hear the phrase ‘passive income’, what comes to your mind? Some would say it is getting payment for a work done just once. Another definition is any form of income you generate even while you are not working. For most people, the best passive income definition is the opportunity to buy back more time.

Time is a precious resource. If time is that valuable, it means that passive income opportunities become even more valuable. You do not need to slave at work in order to earn more. With a passive source of income, you can work less but still earn more. It works differently from active income, which is the most common source of income for most people.

Active income can be in the form of salary, commission, or tip – it is money you earn in exchange for a service that you have provided. If you are serious about building wealth, you need to evaluate your best options among different passive income ideas.

There are many traditional methods of generating passive income such as real estate investing, stocks, and bonds. But the internet has opened up more opportunities for those who would like to earn passive income while staying at home.

Top 21 Passive Income Ideas

Finding passive income streams is easy if you know where to look. This is what this guide intends to do – to help you find ways in which you can generate additional income without having to work more. You will find income ideas that are easy and requires nominal effort. Meanwhile, you can also find passive income ideas that will provide substantial cash to help in your quest of building wealth. Whatever your financial goal may be, feel free to select the ideas that best suit your needs.

It is important to note that most passive income sources will require upfront work. But once you have established that, you can expect a steady stream of cash flow with little to no work.

1 – Start a High-Yield Savings Account

This list of passive income ideas start with the most basic way to generate income – to earn interest from your savings account. While most people are discouraged to let their money sit in the bank, you can actually generate high interest if you choose the right savings account. Compare various savings accounts from multiple banks and find one with the highest interest rate. This will enable your savings to generate more interest in the long run.

An important reminder is that most high yield accounts will require higher initial deposit, as well as higher maintaining balance. Make sure that you abide by these guidelines if you want your account to maximize the interest you can get. Otherwise, your savings account will simply be eaten up by the penalty fees.

This passive income idea isn’t one to help you get rich quickly. But it is important to start at the most basic sources if you want to squeeze as much dollar out of your savings.

2 – Invest in Real Estate

Real estate investing is one of the most traditional forms of generating passive income. You can look into this option if you want a secure and reliable way to generate extra income. Buying an investment property is one of those passive income opportunities that will require initial investment on your end. However, you can find many properties that require as little as 20% down payment.

If you live in an area that has high demand for real estate, you can leverage that demand to your advantage. It should be easy to find tenants that would be interested in occupying your rental property. It goes without saying that you need to do thorough research on the location of your chosen property to invest in.

There are also websites like Roofstock that enable you to invest in properties that already have tenants living in them. The moment you acquire the property, you can already start generating income from the property! It saves you from the hassle of looking for tenants and makes your investment literally fail-proof.

3 – Invest in Stocks to Earn Dividends

Buying stocks to earn dividends is one of the oldest forms of passive income investments. The process involves buying stocks that pay you dividends on a quarterly basis. You only have to make that initial investment and you can expect to earn cash without doing any work. In order to maximize the dividends that you get, buy stocks from companies that are profitable. The higher the profit the company gets, the higher the dividends that you can get, too.

It is also a smart idea to re-invest any dividend that you make. This will enable your money to exponentially grow. But if you simply want to improve your cash flow, you can also opt to put the dividends that you earn to your savings. It will depend on your long-term investment strategy and your financial goals for investing.

4 – Crowdfunded Real Estate Investing

Real estate investing is a truly formidable option if you want the best passive income source. Investing in real estate through a crowdfunding platform is a great idea if you lack the money to make that initial investment. It gives you the opportunity to invest in income-generating commercial real estate at a low-cost initial startup. One example of such platform is a company called Fundrise. With this crowfunding platform, you can start investing in real estate products for only $500. That money you invest will go towards a real estate investment trust. On top of that, you will be paying 2% upfront fee and 1% annual fee moving forward.

You can find other companies online that offer crowdfunded real estate investment opportunities. Each company will vary when it comes to the upfront fees and required investments. Do your own research and choose one that is the best fit for your current financial situation.

5 – Rent Out a Room In Your House

Still in the subject of real estate investment, another great idea on how to make passive income is to rent out any space in your home that is not in use. If you have an extra room or two, you can rent it out to make extra income. You can list the space for rent on Airbnb.

Airbnb is a platform that showcases your rental property to millions of users worldwide. This is a good option for those who do not want to stay in a hotel or want cheap accommodation. You can make the room available for short- or long-term rental – it is up to you!

6 – Make Money Off Your Car

The advent of apps such as Uber has opened the eyes of many people to the idea of generating passive income with their car. Since then, more innovative platforms are available to provide car owners other means of earning cash. Getaround is a good example of that.

The company defines itself as a “peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental” service. With the cost of owning a car estimated to be around $9,000 annually, it is a great way to earn extra income to cover that expense. When your car is not in use, you can list it on Getaround and make it available for people to rent.

This is an attractive option for potential renters with an hourly rate starting at $5. It provides renters more flexibility in the use of your car. On your end, it also means more income from the hourly and daily rental fees.

Registration is free at Getaround and setting up an account takes only a few steps. Any rental earnings you make on your car will accrue and be paid out to you every 15th of the month.

7 – Peer-to-Peer Lending

This is one of the fastest growing passive income opportunities for those in need of extra income stream. One of the best companies to sign up for if you want to invest in peer-to-peer lending is Lending Club. The company will be responsible for your investment, which can be used to provide loans for consumers to pay debt, medical care, or start a business.

At Lending Club, you must sign up for an account. The minimum initial deposit is $0.01. But you can build your portfolio by investing in as little as $25 at a time. When borrowers are approved for a loan, you will get monthly payments from a percentage of the payments made on the loan. You can choose to withdraw or reinvest the payments you receive.

8 – Earn While You Shop!

Shopping as a way to earn might seem counterproductive, but it is one of the best ways to generate passive income. There are plenty of special rewards shopping sites out there. Most of these sites are partnered with online retailers. If you plan on buying something, you might as well take advantage of these sites to earn cash back or special rewards. One of the most popular websites of this kind is Ebates. They offer cash back but also have coupon codes and other types of rewards.

Do watch out for those double cash back specials, too! This is a great way to double the passive income earnings from the website. An important warning though: your goal of making passive income goes out the window if you buy just to earn cash back. The best way to maximize your earnings is if you buy items that you intended to purchase in the first place.

9 – Making Money Off Your Online Activities

The internet is a haven for those in search of ways to make passive income. There are many websites like Swagbucks that enable you to earn points whenever you shop online. You can also get paid whenever you do basic internet activities such as watching videos, answering surveys, or browsing on the internet. For every activity you do, you will earn points that can be redeemed as gift cards or paid in cash to your Paypal account. If you spend a lot of time watching videos or browsing online, you might as well make money off of it.

10 – Set Up a Blog

Blogging is one of the most notable ways to earn passive income online. In fact, there are many out there who have quit their jobs to become a full-time blogger. That is saying a lot when it comes to its ability to potentially generate income! The best thing about a blog is that this platform offers more than just one way to make money. You can earn from your blog through sponsored posts and partnership with brands. But blogs can also help you generate passive income in the form of ad partnership programs, banner ads, and affiliate programs.

If you sign up to Google Adsense – the highest paying ad network on the internet – you could potentially earn thousands of dollars a month from your website traffic alone! The higher the traffic you get, the more you can earn!

Don’t have the time to set up a blog and build a readership base? You can also buy a blog that is already making money. It is a great way to start earning right away. But you must be prepared to pay more for blogs that already generate income.

11 – Sell an Online Course

Do you have any special skills or knowledge? You can earn passive income off of your skills and talents by creating an online course. It is important that you pick a course idea that is unique, so that more people will be enticed to register to the course.

Udemy is one platform that you can use for this purpose. You can offer courses from creative writing, social media marketing, guitar lessons, and more. You will invest your time and effort to building the course, but once it is available on the platform, you can make money without doing additional work.

12 – Invest in a Vending Machine

This is another smart passive income idea that will require little investment yet promising results. There are many types of vending machine businesses out there – from candies, to coffee, and drinks.

To start this business, you must contact local offices or buildings in your area with at least 100 employees. You can ask them if you could install your vending machine at their office. All you have to do is to collect the money from the machine and re-stock it when the supplies are out.

13 – Flip Websites

Another option to generate income while you sleep is to flip websites. Flipping websites work the same way as flipping houses. You will start with an initial investment, which you will use to pay for the website. Once you own the website, you will build it up so it generates more traffic and income. The higher the traffic and income on the website is, the easier it is for you to flip them!

Empire Flippers is a great website to start when you’re looking for profitable websites to invest in. Whether you intend to make money off the website or to flip it, you’ll enjoy promising profits either way.

14 – Rent Your Items

Aside from your spare room in the house, your home is a potential source of income-generating gems too. You will be surprised at how much you can earn from items in your home that other people would be interested in. If you have utility trailers, tables and chairs, chainsaws, lawn mowers, party tents, and more, you can rent them out to earn passive income. This is an especially smart idea if most of these items are sitting in your storage or garage.

15 – Write a Book and Sell It!

If you are gifted in writing, you can monetize your skill by writing a book. Just like when you are setting up an online course, choose a topic that is unique and appealing. Make sure that the topic is interesting enough that people would want to buy it.

It is not easy to write a book. This form of passive income will require your effort and time at the start. But once you finish the book, you can generate adequate amount of residual income from it.

16 –Drop Shipping

The explosion of e-commerce has opened up many opportunities for interested investors to generate passive income. But if you do not want to deal with the hassle of handling and shipping customer orders, you can opt for drop shipping instead.

Here’s how it works: you will work with certain manufacturers and offer products from them through your online store. When a customer places an order, the order will be forwarded to the specific manufacturer of the chosen product/s. The manufacturer will be the one to complete and ship the order to the customer on your behalf. There is no need for you to keep an inventory of products. Instead, you will be paid a certain amount for every successful order on your online store!

17 – Create a YouTube Channel

Do you love making videos? If you do, YouTube is a great platform you can use to make passive income online. YouTube is the largest video streaming website and is one of the most popular websites on the internet. You can leverage the site’s popularity to make money on your YouTube channel.

It is important to note that YouTube now requires channels to have at least 1,000 subscribers before they can monetize their videos. Once you reach more than 1,000 subscribers, it is a reliable way to get a steady stream of passive income. You will only have to film and edit your videos once. After it is uploaded to your channel, you can earn for every view it gets.

18 – Sell Your Photos Online

Another way to generate passive income streams through a hobby is with photography. If you have quality photos that you think others would be interested in, you can sell them online. Shutterstock is one of many websites that enable you to register an account and upload your photos for others to buy. Once your photos are approved, you will get a commission for every time a user downloads your photo/s.

19 – Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is considered as the number one method for bloggers to earn from their website. You can leverage this method to produce passive income online. In order to make money with affiliate marketing, you must first need a website or blog. Just like a blog, you need content that is useful and informative to generate a strong readership base. It is also a good way to establish your authority in order to get people to click on your affiliate links and make a purchase. Otherwise, you won’t be able to make money if you are not generating affiliate sales.

20 – Invest with Robo-Advisor

If you want to invest but do not have the knowledge or expertise to pursue it on your own, you can leverage the services of robo-advisors. This is a powerful tool that you can use to even out the investment playing field without the need to hire a brokerage firm.

The robo-advisor can perform a variety of tasks that an investment brokers offer, such as portfolio allocation and reducing tax burden. These tools are capable of managing investments worth up to $10,000. This is a great way for you to boost your investment portfolio and maximize your earnings from these investments.

21 – Develop a Mobile App

Nowadays, it seems as though there is an app for nearly every task. If you have the skills for mobile app development, you can create your own. Think of a unique idea and build your app around that. What problem are you trying to solve with the app? It must have a unique value proposition in order for people to become interested in it.

If you are out of ideas, you can look at existing apps and study key features they are missing. From there, you can develop your own mobile app that is more complex and functional. With a huge number of people who rely on smartphone apps, it is a potentially promising passive income idea.

FAQ

Introduction to Passive Income

This section is where you will find a collection of frequently asked questions about passive income. These are basic information that those who are new to passive income generating ideas would find themselves asking.

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What is passive income?

Passive income is any type of income that you get while you are not directly providing a service. It is a form of residual income, which can be generated even while you are sleeping or on vacation.

How to generate passive income?

There are several means to generate passive income. You can do so by renting any items you do not use, setting up a website, or selling your previous creations (such as crafts and photos).

How to build passive income?

Building passive income will take time. Most of the passive income sources you will find will require you to do some work at the start, such as building an online course or writing a book. Once you’ve completed your work, you can build passive income for every sale on your book or registration on your course.

What is non-passive income?

Non-passive income, also known as active income, is a type of income that you generate in exchange for a service provided. This can be in the form of salary, commission, or tip.

What is the difference between active income and passive income?

Active income is any type of earnings you make in exchange for providing a service, such as salary or commission. Passive income, on the other hand, is income you generate residually from work that you had done only once.

How do I get passive income?

There are many passive income sources especially on the internet. You can set up a blog or engage in affiliate marketing. You can also earn passive income when you make real estate investments or traditional forms of stocks and bonds investing.

How to live off of passive income?

It is possible to sustain your lifestyle through passive income. But in order to sustain your living with passive income, you need to have multiple income streams.

How to get passive income fast?

There is no way to guarantee that you can earn passive income quickly. The ability to generate income will vary according to the type of income source you have chosen.

How to create multiple streams of passive income?

You can pursue a variety of passive income streams at the same time. This will ensure you get a steady cash flow from various income sources, such as index funds, affiliate marketing sales, dividend stocks, high-yield savings account, and cash-back rewards.

How to start generating passive income?

The first step to generate passive income is to determine what your skills or interests are. If you have any hobby such as photography or writing, you can make passive income off of these. If you own any items that you think others would find useful, you can also make them available for rent.

How much passive income is enough?

The amount of passive income that you must earn will depend on your needs and your financial goal. Therefore, it varies from one person to another.

Is passive income real?

Yes. There are many forms of passive income sources and they vary in the amount that they bring into your pocket. Most people earn passive income of $500 to $2,500 a month.

What is passive income under FATCA?

The FATCA definition for passive income is any income generated from passive assets or ones that are not defined as a business entity.

How to make passive income from home?

There are many types of passive income opportunities that you can do on the computer. As long as you have an internet connection, you can generate passive income while staying home.

What qualifies as passive income?

Passive income is any type of earnings that is generated from assets or investments that you are not actively involved in. For example, you invest your money in managed funds. The fund manager will be the one responsible for the allocation of your investment portfolio. You will only be paid the dividends that you make from that account.

How to build passive income for financial independence?

If your aim for building passive income is to gain financial independence, make sure you invest it on high-dividend stocks. If you choose to keep your money in a savings account, make sure it is a high-interest account. It is also important that you continually put money towards those investments as the more money you put in, the higher the gains you can enjoy later.

Why passive income is important?

Most millionaires have multiple income streams that are passive. This is important not only if you want to get rich quickly, but also because time is valuable. You get to earn more while you enjoy life and spend time with your family.

Types of Passive Income

There are many forms of passive income sources. If you are curious to know about these different types, this section will provide you with the questions and answers you need to know.

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What are some examples of passive income?

There are various types of passive income. Traditional sources of passive income include real estate, stocks, and bonds. The advent of the internet has opened up many passive income opportunities such as blogging, affiliate marketing, and Youtube, among other things.

How to create passive income in real estate?

There are many ways to earn passive income from real estate. The most common form is to buy an investment property and rent it out. You can earn residual income from the rent on your property. Or, if you have extra room in your house, you can also make it available for short-term rental.

Is royalty income passive?

No. The revenue service does not qualify royalties as passive income.

How to make passive income with stocks?

The stock market is one of the most recommended options for those looking for passive income. You can buy stocks from various companies and when they make profit, you can get dividends for any profits according to the number of shares you own. This will be paid on a quarterly basis, or depending on the specific type of stocks you purchased.

Are dividends passive income?

Dividends fall under the portfolio income category. Since this is money you earn from previous investments made and not through regular business activity, it is considered passive.

Is rental property considered passive income?

Rental property and other forms of real estate investments are considered passive income sources. As a rental property owner, you are not directly involved with the day-to-day operations once the property is occupied by tenants. You will only collect the rental fees from the tenants.

What are some passive income ideas?

There is an endless array of options when it comes to passive income sources. Some of the most popular ideas include high-dividend stocks, high-yield savings, index funds, peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunded real estate, real estate property, renting your car, flipping a blog, and affiliate marketing, to name a few.

How to make passive income from property?

There are two main ways that you can generate passive income on your property. One is you can rent out a room in your home (if you have a spare room), or you can rent an investment property. The rental income will serve as your source of passive income. Another way to make income from your property is if you flip it.

Is interest income passive income?

Interest or dividends you make from your investments can be considered a passive form of income.

How to generate passive income from stocks and shares?

To generate income from stocks and shares, you can invest on a specific company that offers shares for interested shareholders. You will have to make a one-time investment and you will residually earn from any profits that the company generates.

Are capital gains considered passive income?

Capital gain is considered one of the portfolio income types, which includes dividends and interest. It is therefore a type of passive income.

What are the best passive income investments?

Real estate is considered as one of the best forms of investments for those seeking passive income. Other reliable options include index funds and dividend stocks.

How to make passive income easily with affiliate program?

Affiliate marketing is another potentially lucrative form of passive income online. To generate a reliable stream of passive income, you need a website that you can add your affiliate links and promotions to. You need to build up this website to ensure that you get sufficient amount of traffic. The higher the traffic, the higher your possibility to convert them into sales!

How to teach online courses and make passive income?

Writing online courses is one of the best ways to get a steady stream of income online. Find a reputable program that you can publish your courses to. For every time a student buys your course, you will get a percentage off of the sales.

How to make passive income blogging?

Blogging is the most common type of passive income source online. When you set up a blog, you can generate income through ad networks, sponsor banners, sponsored posts, and affiliate links on your website.

How to sell your images online for passive income?

Selling your photos online is another reliable way to generate passive income. There are many websites that enable you to upload your photos. Once your photos are approved, the users can see them. For every download on your photo, you will earn a commission.

How to make passive income as a graphic designer?

If you have graphic design skills, you can create logos and vector images. You can sell rights to these images to various websites. Whenever a customer of that website downloads a copy of your creation, you will earn a certain commission for every download.

How to make passive income as an artist?

Just like graphic designers, you can create various art forms that you are an expert in. You can make those creations available online via a marketplace. You can also set up your e-commerce website wherein you will sell your artworks. Etsy is a good example of a website to showcase your creations as an artist.

How to make passive income with cryptocurrency?

The emergence of cryptocurrency has opened up new opportunities to create a passive income funnel. There are many ways to earn passive income using cryptocurrency such as the following: 1) staking, 2) controlling a Masternode, and 3) holding utility tokens.

How to create passive income by investing?

Investing is the best way to generate passive income. There are many ways to invest, such as in real estate, high dividend stocks, index funds, and peer-to-peer lending.

How to make passive income as a photographer?

You can generate passive income as a photographer when you sell your photos online. Find a website that will enable you to setup an account. When users download your photos, you can make money off of each download.

How to make passive income with apps?

There are two ways that you can generate passive income with apps. The first one is to develop mobile apps that you will sell. The second one is to find apps that pay you to perform any online activities that you regularly do, such as watching videos or browsing the internet. There are also apps that provide cash back rewards when you make a purchase or use your credit card.

Is crowdfunding passive income gains?

Yes. Crowdfunded real estate is one of the most reliable forms of generating passive income, especially for those who do not have the money to invest in their own investment property.

Passive Income Specifics

If you want to get more in-depth information on passive income, as well as other related issues such as tax and more, you will get the answers to your most burning questions here.

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How to create passive income with no money?

Unlike building a business, you can earn passive income even without money to invest initially. You can rent out any items that you own that are not in use, such as your equipment in the garage, or a room in your house. There are endless ideas if you know where to look and what to look for.

How to make passive income online?

The internet is one of the best places to start if you want to generate passive income. You can set up a blog that earns you money from traffic and affiliate marketing. You can also upload videos on Youtube.

Is passive income subject to self-employment tax?

The IRS does not consider passive income as earned income. Therefore, it is not subject to the self-employment tax.

How to make passive income as a college student?

If you’re a college student, you can earn passive income by blogging, selling an online course, or selling your photos and other crafts.

How to create a passive income website?

You can earn passive income by building a website. You can set up a blog and use it for affiliate marketing. This is a great way to generate affiliate sales and make passive income.

How to make passive income as a kid?

Kids can also earn passive income as long as they know how to use the internet. Any kid can set up a blog, podcast, or YouTube channel. There are also websites that you can join in that pays you for browsing the internet, watching videos, or answering surveys.

How to make passive income ideas?

There are several ideas to generate passive income. You can look at your own hobbies and skills to determine how you can create additional flow of income. Another option is to engage in real estate, which experts consider as the most foolproof way to generate passive income.

Is passive income taxed at a different rate?

The passive income will have different rates from active income but it will also vary depending on the specific type of income source. In general, passive income tax can range from 10 to 39.6 percent.

How to make 2000 a month passive income?

You can potentially generate up to 2,000 a month from passive income, provided that you have multiple income streams. But some lucrative passive income sources like blogging, affiliate marketing, and rental income from real estate can produce this amount.

How to make passive income as a teenager?

For teenagers, the best place to start generating passive income is via a high-yield savings account. This will ensure that you can get the highest possible interest on those accounts. High-risk ETFs, managed funds, and stocks are also ideal since they do not require a lot of work.

How to buy websites for a passive income?

There are several websites that provide a marketplace for people looking to buy websites. When choosing which website to buy, make sure that these are websites that are already generating money so you can earn passive income immediately.

How to increase passive income?

If you want to boost your passive income, you can re-invest any interests and capital gains you make from your existing income sources. This will enable you to exponentially grow your money.

Does passive income affect social security benefits?

No. Social security benefits will only compute the income you generate from your employment. Any other sources of income, such as your passive income, will not cause any reduction on your benefits.

How much passive income do I need to retire?

This will vary from one person to another because every individual has unique lifestyle needs. Some lifestyle choices are costlier than the others. You need to assess your own lifestyle and determine if your passive income would be enough to sustain you through retirement.

How to grow passive income?

You can grow passive income by finding multiple income streams. When you have income from various sources, it will add up to your total earnings. You can also opt for investments that allow your money to grow exponentially so you can earn more.

How to quit your job with passive income?

If you can earn substantial amount of passive income, it can be good enough to support your needs even when you quit your job. The best option is to invest in real estate so you can get rental income off the property. You can also invest in managed funds and peer-to-peer lending, which pays you on a monthly or quarterly basis based on the return of your investment.

What is the easiest way to set up passive income?

Setting up a blog is one of the easiest ways to set up a passive income opportunity. However, it will take time to build readership and traffic on your blog, which is what you need to monetize it. You can consider buying blogs that are already generating income so you can easily make money off of it.

Rachel Carey

Financial Guru

Rachel is dedicated to helping individuals and families boost their budgets so they can enjoy the lifestyle they deserve. Rachel graduated with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She’s a prolific finance writer, producing tons of articles on different aspects of personal and family budget management.